Terms of Service

1. Agreement to Terms

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], operator of JoinAPaper.com (the “Service”). By creating an account or using the Service you accept these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you use the Service on behalf of an institution, you represent you are authorised to bind it.

2. The Service; Our Limited Role

The Service is a neutral venue: it enables users to list unfinished research projects (“Listings”), advertise open co-author roles (“Slots”), apply to Slots, and record the parties’ mutual understanding of contribution and authorship order (“Collaboration Records”). We are not a party to, participant in, broker of, or guarantor of any collaboration. We do not conduct, supervise, fund, or review research; we do not determine authorship; and we make no representation that any Collaboration Record is legally enforceable — it is a documented understanding between the users who created it.

3. Eligibility; Accounts; Verification

You must be 18 or older and able to form a binding contract. You are responsible for your credentials and all activity under your account. Verification badges (e.g. ORCID linkage, institutional email) indicate only that a third-party record responded at a point in time; they are not endorsements and we do not guarantee any user’s identity, qualifications, reliability, or conduct.

4. User Content; Ownership; Licence

“User Content” means everything you post: Listings, abstracts, descriptions, pitches, updates, profile text. You retain all intellectual-property rights in your User Content. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, and display User Content solely to operate, improve, and promote the Service, terminable upon deletion of the content except as retained in routine backups or as required by law.

5. Disclosure Is Your Decision — No Confidentiality

Read this section carefully. The Service is a public or semi-public venue. Any idea, hypothesis, method, dataset description, or draft you post may be viewed by other users. We provide no confidentiality obligations, no non-disclosure agreements between users, and no protection of research priority. Other users may lawfully or unlawfully use, copy, or build upon what you disclose, and you accept that risk entirely. Post at the level of detail you are comfortable making public; exchange sensitive materials off-platform under arrangements you make yourself. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any misappropriation of ideas or loss of priority arising from your decision to post.

6. Your Representations About Content

For all User Content you represent and warrant that: (a) you own it or have all necessary rights; (b) it does not infringe any third party’s IP, contractual, or moral rights — including existing co-authors, employers, funders, and publishers; (c) it complies with any institutional, ethical-approval, export-control, or data-protection obligations that apply to you; and (d) it is not deceptive or fraudulent.

7. Collaborations Are Between Users

Users are solely responsible for every aspect of their collaborations, including: the decision to collaborate; due diligence on other users; research design, execution, quality, and integrity; compliance with laws, institutional policies, ethics approvals, and journal requirements; data handling; authorship decisions and any changes to them; and the resolution of disputes. Authorship is ultimately governed by the norms and policies of the relevant journals and institutions. We have no obligation to mediate, arbitrate, or resolve any dispute between users, though we may review reported conduct under §9.

8. Academic Integrity Rules

You must not use the Service for: ghost, gift, or honorary authorship; buying or selling authorship (no payment of any kind may pass between users in exchange for authorship or Slots); plagiarism; fabrication or falsification of data or credentials; simultaneous misrepresentation of the same contribution to multiple projects; or evading a sanction imposed by an institution, publisher, or funder. Collaboration Records must reflect genuine contribution consistent with recognised standards (CRediT taxonomy; ICMJE authorship criteria).

9. Acceptable Use; Enforcement

You must not: harass or deceive other users; scrape or bulk-harvest content or profiles; introduce malware; interfere with the Service’s operation; create accounts by automated means; or impersonate any person. We may investigate reported violations and may remove content, suspend, or terminate accounts at our discretion, with or without notice. We are not obligated to monitor content and assume no duty by doing so selectively.

10. Copyright Complaints

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, notify us at [CONTACT EMAIL]with the information required by applicable law (e.g. DMCA §512(c)(3) in the U.S.). We will process valid notices, may remove identified material, and may terminate repeat infringers’ accounts.

11. Third-Party Services

The Service interoperates with third-party services such as ORCID and institutional email systems. Those services have their own terms; we are not responsible for their availability, accuracy, or conduct.

12. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted operation. Without limitation, we make no warranty about: the conduct, identity, or qualifications of any user; the outcome of any collaboration; publication of any work; or the preservation of any idea’s confidentiality or priority.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law: (a) we shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of ideas, research priority, data, goodwill, reputation, career or publication opportunity, arising from the Service or any user’s conduct, even if advised of the possibility; and (b) our total aggregate liability shall not exceed the greater of the amounts you paid us in the 12 months before the claim (currently zero — the Service is free) or USD 100. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions; in those, our liability is limited to the minimum extent permitted.

14. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], its officers, and agents from claims, liabilities, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from: your User Content; your collaborations and any authorship or integrity dispute connected to them; your violation of these Terms or of any law or third-party right.

15. Dispute Resolution With Us

[CHOOSE WITH COUNSEL: informal-resolution-first clause; then binding arbitration with class-action waiver (U.S. style), or courts of the operating jurisdiction (common elsewhere).] Claims must be brought within one year of accrual where permitted.

16. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of [JURISDICTION], excluding its conflict-of-law rules, and subject to §15, disputes shall be brought exclusively in its courts.

17. Changes; Termination; Survival

We may modify these Terms with notice (email or in-Service); material changes take effect no sooner than 14 days after notice, and continued use constitutes acceptance. You may close your account at any time. Sections 4–8 and 12–16 survive termination.

18. Miscellaneous

These Terms are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service. If a provision is unenforceable, the remainder stands. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger or sale. Contact: [CONTACT EMAIL].